SEPTA agrees to remove gender stickers, transgender group says

BY JOHN F. MORRISON, Daily News Staff Writer

Posted: April 12, 2012

A transgender lobbying group says SEPTA has agreed to remove gender identification stickers from monthly transit passes next year under pressure from transgender riders and others who feel discriminated against.

Since the 1980s, the transit authority has required that all TransPasses have a male or female gender sticker affixed to prevent heterosexual spouses from sharing passes with one another.

As a result, opponents argue, riders whose gender identifications don't match the stickers on their passes, including transgender men and women who are not living in one gender full time, and people who do not present themselves as male or female, have been harassed and ridiculed by drivers in front of other riders.

Max Ray, a RAGE founding member, said Thursday that SEPTA general manager Joseph Casey has agreed to submit a fare policy proposal to the authority board that would remove the stickers starting in the second half of 2013.